There's a 'very, very strong case' against Albayalde, Gordon says

Metro Manila (AdChoiceTV News, October 12) — Philippine National Police chief General Oscar Albayalde may face criminal and administrative charges for involvement in the irregular Pampanga raid when he was provincial police director in 2013.

Senator Richard Gordon, who leads the legislative inquiry into the "ninja" or drug-linked cops, said Saturday the testimonies of two former Central Luzon police chiefs are enough to pin the top cop down.

Chief drug buster Aaron Aquino earlier testified that Albayalde in 2016 asked him not to implement the dismissal of 13 Pampanga policemen over the flawed drug sting, where they allegedly got millions of pesos from recycling the seized shabu and extorting from the drug trafficker. Aquino was head of the Police Regional Office 3 when Albayalde called him. Albayalde was then acting regional police director of Metro Manila, a post he received after being placed under floating status for eight months because of the raid.

Aquino's predecessor, retired PCSupt. Rudy Lacadin, meanwhile revealed that Albayalde also called him to ask about the investigation he was conducting on the Pampanga cops. According to Lacadin, Albayalde supposedly said he got only "a little" from the raid. While Lacadin said this remark may have been made in jest, lawmakers, including Gordon, believe his statement was "damaging" to Albayalde's credibility.

Speaking at a media forum on Saturday, Gordon said, "We have the testimony of a general of the PDEA that he was approached and then another general came in, Lacadin, and then we have the circumstantial connection that if you put together you can really build up a very, very strong case criminally and administratively."

"He (Albayalde) really needs a strong lawyer," Gordon addded, saying there is enough circumstantial and testimonial evidence against the embattled PNP chief.

Albayalde has denied the allegations hurled against him and is now preparing to file charges against his accusers. He has asked veteran lawyer and and former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza for legal assistance.

'I don't care if you're retiring'

Gordon did not specify what charges can be filed against Albayalde, but said neglect of duty is one of them.

"Albayalde should really be held liable for negligence, neglect of duty. He did not reprimand his men," Gordon said.

"He kept quiet until he got up in the ranks and he started talking with Gen. Aquino and everybody else," Gordon added.

Albayalde has been grilled for claiming he had little to zero knowledge of his subordinates' anti-drug operation, despite being their leader. He said he did not get himself involved because he thought it was just a "simple" operation. Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, accused Albayalde of blocking the dismissal of his men and involvement in the raid.

Gordon said it is hard to believe Albayalde did not know what his men were doing. He said Albayalde should have been investigated along with the raiding team and not merely placed under preventive suspension.

Albayalde is retiring this month, but Gordon said nothing can stop anyone from filing a case against him.

"We have to lay the standard. I don’t care if you’re retiring. In the first place, that's wishful thinking. If he is really guilty, even if he retires, Magalong and the Secretary of Justice can still go after him," Gordon said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Gueverra has ordered a reinvestigation of the Pampanga cops' case. The National Police Commission, the body tasked to administer and control the 190,000-strong police force, is also reviewing the case, including Albayalde's possible liabilities.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he will wait for investigation results before taking action on Albayalde and his former subordinates. Albayalde's men, who are now called "ninja cops," were initially ordered dismissed. Four years after the raid, their punishment was downgraded to a one-rank demotion, something lawmakers have heavily criticized. Duterte previously said Albayalde’s “only link” to the erring cops was that he happened to be Pampanga’s provincial director when the questionable drug raid happened.

AdChoiceTV News, Robi Chan contributed to this report.

Super typhoon Hagibis makes landfall on Japan's main island

TOKYO - A massive typhoon, bringing heavy downpours and winds, made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu on Saturday evening, while the country remains at its highest alert level after an unprecedented emergency warning was issued for Tokyo and six prefectures.

The weather agency issued an emergency warning over Typhoon Hagibis ahead of its landing on the Izu Peninsula before 7 p.m., saying heavy rainfall "with a level of intensity observed only once every few decades" is predicted in Tokyo and the prefectures of Gunma, Saitama, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka.

Japan was at its highest alert level as the typhoon threatened to sweep through Tokyo, with over 3 million advised to evacuate, train operators suspending most services and airports shut down in the metropolitan and surrounding areas.

Typhoon Hagibis, meaning "swift" in the Philippine language Tagalog, could dump amounts of rain not seen since a deadly typhoon in 1958, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It is the first time the agency has issued the warning, the highest on a one-to-five scale, for Tokyo and the six prefectures.

Japanese authorities warned that the typhoon is causing water levels in a number of rivers, including the Tama and the Arakawa in the metropolitan area, to rise dangerously.

The projected path of the typhoon may result in further damage to areas in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo where another powerful typhoon destroyed houses and triggered widespread power outages in September.

Chiba's prefectural government said a tornado hit part of Ichihara and destroyed a house.

Local officials said a man in his 50s was found dead in an overturned car near the destroyed house, as the tornado likely caused his vehicle to roll over.

At least 50 people were injured in the prefecture and elsewhere in the country, according to a Kyodo News tally based on information provided by rescuers and other authorities.

Central Japan prefectures, such as Mie and Shizuoka, and Kanagawa southwest of Tokyo have issued evacuation advisories to many of their municipalities. The Tokyo metropolitan government advised residents mainly in its western suburbs to evacuate.

As of 6 p.m., the typhoon had an atmospheric pressure of 955 hectopascals at its center and was packing winds of up to 216 kilometers per hour. The agency downgraded Typhoon Hagibis' intensity to "powerful" from "very powerful" around 6 p.m.

It is forecast to bring winds of 216 kph to the Tokai region in central Japan and the Kanto-Koshin region, including the Tokyo metropolitan area, and could potentially knock down houses, the agency had warned.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said as many as 770,000 homes were without power at one time in Chiba Prefecture.

Up to 1,000 millimeters of rain was expected in the Tokai region, and 600 mm in the Kanto-Koshin region, in the 24-hour period through midnight Saturday, the agency said.

Tokyo's Haneda airport, as well as Narita airport near the capital, were shut down.

There was no shinkansen bullet train service between Tokyo and Nagoya on Saturday. Just six early morning trains ran between Nagoya and Shin-Osaka, and operations between Shin-Osaka and Okayama were canceled from the afternoon.

Central Japan Railway Co. said train services on its Tokaido Shinkansen Line, departing from or arriving at Tokyo, are likely to be suspended on Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, West Japan Railway Co. said it is aiming to resume bullet train services between Shin-Osaka and Hakata on Sunday.

East Japan Railway Co. said it gradually suspended train runs in the Tokyo metropolitan area from Saturday morning and halted services around 1 p.m., including its Tohoku and Hokuriku shinkansen services.

Many stores in and around Tokyo were closed, or shelves were empty as people stocked up on food, water and other necessities.

Among manufacturers, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. suspended operations at some of their plants Saturday.

According to the weather agency, the predicted rainfall amounts would be in line with those deposited by Typhoon Ida in September 1958, which left 1,200 people dead or missing across Japan.

That typhoon, known as Kanogawa in Japan, ripped through the Kanto region and the Izu Peninsula, causing the Kano River in Shizuoka Prefecture to overflow.

Apple yanks Hong Kong map app after call-out from mainland

Hong Kong (AdChoiceTV News, Oct 10) - Apple on Thursday removed a Hong Kong map application used by pro-democracy protesters, saying it endangered police, after China warned the US tech giant to drop the app.

According to a statement published by the makers of HKmap.live, Apple said “your app has been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong.”

The city has been gripped by protests for four months, and there have been regular clashes between hardcore demonstrators and police. The app had relied on crowdsourcing to pinpoint the location of police officers and violence incidents across the city.

Apple’s withdrawal of the application from its App Store followed an accusation from China’s state media that the app “obviously helps rioters.”

An opinion piece in the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, said on Wednesday: “Nobody wants to drag Apple into the lingering unrest in Hong Kong. But people have reason to assume that Apple is mixing business with politics, and even illegal acts.

“Apple has to think about the consequences of its unwise and reckless decision.”

HKmap.live published the App Store Review’s statement on its Telegram channel, which has more than 70,000 subscribers.

“The app displays police locations and we have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau that the app has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimise residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement,” the statement said.

“This use of your app has resulted in serious harm to these citizens.”

The developer did not comment further.

Apple — which has enormous business interests on the mainland — is just the latest Western company to fall over itself in a mad rush to appease China after drawing the ire of its media, both social and traditional.

In just the last week, the NBA, Tiffany & Co., and the shoe company Vans have all found themselves at the center of Hong Kong-related brouhahas.

AdChoiceTV News Hong Kong correspondent Robi Chan contributed to this report